Twilight Echos

The strange

Exhausted from working extra time in work, a woman sits in the back of the bus, praying she goes home safe. Everyone does. No one spoke or looked at each other. They were either on their phones like mindless corpses or out in the window like paranoid swine. Mindy however was only looking at the door of the bus. Watching as people came in and left through that door. Counting the minutes until her stop comes.

As soon as the bus makes another stop, Mindy jumps out of her seat and walks out of the bus before it is too late. Taking one last glimpse of the bus before it falls into a bottomless hole filled with nothing but screams.

She sighs in relief and starts walking down the sidewalk. Making sure to look around at all angles to make sure she's safe. She took notice of who or what was in her surroundings as well. She saw one person running around a streetlight like they were going insane and eventually collapsed on the ground.

Another individual was walking down and up some stairs with black eyes and a weird 12-legged creature on top of their head. She sighed in relief that nothing weird was happening yet. Mindy finally makes it to her apartment and knocks on the door to the lobby.

The door was slightly open, so she let herself inside. She looked over at the security guard sitting in the reception area as he tipped his hat at her. "Evening there Mindy!" He tells her with a grin on his face. Mindy was about to say something until she saw a freak of nature right behind him. "Evening Kyle... do make sure you keep your head in place." She speaks and quickly walks upstairs to her room before things get chaotic.

Mindy managed to make it inside her room and locked the door shut with 5 locks in both the top and bottom with duct tape in the cracks around it. She kept her windowsill wide open so light could shine through, and nothing could sneak up at her in the shadows. And before she could relax in her bed, she even turned on every light around the house and quickly made sure no bed bugs were on her bed. Eventually, she stopped trying to figure out ways the strange would enter or mess up her mind or eat her alive in her sleep and she rested.

But even then, she couldn't rest well. No one could. It was exceedingly rare for anyone to be calm unless they were wishing death upon themselves or even getting brainwashed by the strange. No one knows when the strange came about or how to solve some of the problems and sickness that they spread.

People who did try died of old age and no one was brave enough to sacrifice their lives for anyone. The late-night Is where you can hear the strange lurk around and crawl in your mind.
The strange is always there even if you can't catch a glimpse of it.

Mindy's door made a rat-tat-tat sound, and she at once woke up from her sleep or more of a rest. She grabbed a bat from the side of her bed and crept near her door. She peeked in the peephole and noticed a large dark blue eye already looking through it. Jolted by surprise, she quickly opened the door ready to swing at it.

But when the door swung open, there was no one to be seen or found. Not even the strange were near the area. Having an unsettling feeling, she rushed back into her room and called a number. Pacing back and forth until someone answered. "Hello, you've dialed the S.A.S. How may we assist you?"

"Hello. My name is Mindy Walker. I think one of the strange got to me. I saw one of them in my peephole, but I can't seem to find it anywhere. And something about it was... weird. I-I don't know how to clarify it, but it looked...like me. It looked like me! But more... alive...and happy. I've never seen a strange do that before."

There was silence on the other end and some workers chatting with each other until someone responded to Mindy. "...Mindy... that is no strange. Whatever you do do NOT go near that monster do you understand?! Unfortunately, we do not have a doctor to figure out the cure for this but the best thing that S.A.S can do is give you advice. If you have any more questions give us a call." And just like that they hung up leaving Mindy confused and speechless. But she couldn't judge them. After all, they're the only people who are willing to help and are closest to doctors than anything else.

Days passed since that incident, and she continues to see the figure stand by the peephole every night just looking at her. And yet every time she would ask the S.A.S for help they would always have the same response. Hide. Run. Don't fight it. Whatever you do don't talk to it. Don't even look at it. The same thing every time. And as each day shows by, the town gets stranger and stranger. The strange started to show their true colors and take people one by one. Walking by the street and tipping their hats at them like this was normal. But nothing ever is.

Mindy started to lose her patience by the second. And she finally calls them one last time. "Hello, you've dialed-."

"Don't play dumb with me anymore! I'm sick and tired of waiting for things to be less strange than it already was before. I lost my family cause of this mess a while ago and I have done nothing but WAIT and WAIT and nothing has CHANGED around here! I'm practically seeing more of the strange than real people THEMSELVES. Now I want you to tell me. I want you to TELL ME what I am supposed to do. Don't answer me like I'm nothing and don't give me none of the casual robot answers like you give everyone else's here. What do I DO?"

There was a long pause you can practically hear people getting eaten alive by the strange down in an alley. At the final minute, there was a response. "...go.... go and get out of here like the rest will...go and see." Mindy was bewildered by that statement and noticed people running outside. Not from the strange anymore. They were running ANYWHERE that looked like freedom.

No one was thinking twice about anything anymore and were starting to lose their minds. Some were fighting each other while others were running through what looked like an exit. "What...what are they doing? What is happening?" She asked the S.A.S in perplexity. "...I want you to look at the fourth wall. Right behind you. Peel off the wall until your fingers start to bleed. But don't stop."

She dropped her phone and thought for a second before running over the wall and started breaking the wall down. Not noticing how incredibly strong she was. Each crack in the wall made her start to feel more like strange than human. It made her feel alive. She ripped and broke all the way through and stared at it. The glass wall. On the other side were people just like her. Some were in white lab coats and others looked like tourists. But one person caught her eye.

It was a little girl making eye contact with her. It was her. Mindy took another glimpse at herself and noticed her body formed into the strange. She looked back at the glass with blood in her eyes. "What...have you DONE TO ME!?" She yelled in bitterness as she tried to break the glass. But it wouldn't budge one bit .

The people were frightened of Mindy and were glancing at each other. "And here we have virus 201B. It's very deadly and can take note of their surroundings and make another town in the same replica but in its form. They can mess with your mind and even kill you in seconds. Luckily, we managed to encase it in this large glass box, so the 'replica' is more miniature size and harmless for us."  One of the scientists said. Mindy then watched as the people started to leave as she pounded her fists at the glass screaming 'GET ME OUT OF HERE'.

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Summary:
(Will be here shortly)